Not all eggs are created equal in the eyes of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Kinder Eggs, a popular European chocolate egg that contains a toy inside, is banned from importation into the United States because it contains a "non-nutritive object embedded in it."

With the Easter holiday around the corner, the agency issued the reminder this week, warning that the candy is considered unsafe for children under 3. Last year,Â Customs and Border Protection seized 25,000 of them in 1,700 incidents.

The hollow egg, which is sold by the Italian confectioner Ferrero, is available in Europe, Canada, Australia and parts of Latin America under various names including Kinder Surprise and Kinder Sorpresa. It has taken on a cult status among adults who collect the toys, which vary from rings to animals and cartoon characters.

Kinder Eggs' scarcity in the United States has made them an object of desire: Various websites and online forums are dedicated to acquiring them.

Some are apparently hiding in plain sight. Earlier this week, DNAinfo.com, a New York City neighborhood guide, posted a story and slideshow showing stores where the coveted treats can be found.

"While there are some commercial-sized seizures that occur, most Kinder Eggs are seized in personal baggage or at mail and express consignment facilities,"Â Customs and Border Protection said.

A Canadian woman reportedly learned her lesson the hard way.

The woman was selected for a random search at a border checkpoint in Minnesota when officials discovered she was carrying a Kinder Egg and took it from her, The Toronto Star reported.

A few weeks later, she received a 7-page letter asking if she wanted the egg back or if she was going to abandon rights to it, the Star reported.

Studied abroad in Berlin last year and brought an assortment of Kinder chocolate back, including the eggs. Guess I flew rebel style, smuggling something over the border I wasn't allowed to have! I'm such a badass, haha.

how did they (customs) get this idea. EU certainly maintain food regulation and certainly, these eggs dont have any problem (in theory u may say these eggs may harmful. well, almost everything can be harmful in bad logic). god bless America.

My company [GermanDeli] used to sell them online and in our store until we were singled out and I was threatened with Federal imprisonment and a fine exceeding $2,000,000, yet recently I found on a "Made in China" knock-off of the wonderful Kinder Eggs. When I reported the product to The Feds they wrote back saying my "complaint" would be sent to the manufacturer. Are you kidding me?!!

ok i know i dont have kids but when i do i will raise them to not put random s#!t in thier mouths, be a parent for once in your misrable life and slap the s#!t outta your kid if he puts toys in thier mouths or act up. thats why america is swiftly going down the tubes because parents are too lazy to discipline thier kids. if you dont like what i am saying then it must apply to you.

I almost died laughing when I read this. I live in Germany and I remember a few years ago I brought a bunch of these home to my family in the US and had no problems with Customs.
What a weak and lame excuse. Doesn't the US have bigger problems then to worry about Kinder-Egg smugglers? Will they be the next "drug runners" in the US.
Unbelievable. !!!!!!!

Images of unpacking a Kinder Egg can be seen here, read them clockwise order: http://www.tim.lu/photo_album/life_in_germany1/kinder_surprise.jpg
The big plastic internal container is quite large, so I wonder whether the 1700 choking cases have something to do with wild frenzy binge eating of candy by already overweight kids that are not being supervised by their caring parents.

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